“.......having a good start not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, Iintend to be the greatest architect of all time.” - Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959CHILDHOODBorn in Richland Center, in southwestern Wisconsin, on June 8, 1867(sometimes reported as 1869), Frank Lincoln Wright, who changed his own middlename to Lloyd, was raised under the influence of a Welsh heritage. The Lloyd-Jonesfamily, his mother’s side of the family, had a great influence on Wright throughout hislife. The family was Unitarian in faith and lived close to each other. Major emphasiswithin the Lloyd-Jones family included education, religion, and nature. Wright’s familyspent many evenings listening to William Lincoln Wright read the works of Emerson,Thoreau, and Blake. His aunts Nell and Jane opened a school of their own, pressingthe philosophies of the German educator, Froebel. Wright was brought up in acomfortable, but certainly not warm household. His father, William Carey Wright, whoworked as a preacher and a musician, moved from job to another, dragging his familyacross the United States. Possibly as a result of this upheaval, Wright’s parentsdivorced when while he was still young. His mother, Anna, relied heavily upon hermany brothers, sisters and uncles, and Wright was intellectually guided by his auntsand his mother.Before Wright was even born, his mother had decided that her son was gongto be a great architect. Using Froebel’s geometric blocks to entertain and educate herson, Mrs. Wright must have struck the genius that her son possessed. Use ofimagination was encouraged and Wright was given free run of the playroom filledwith paste, paper, and cardboard. On the door were the words, SANCTUMSANCTORUM (Latin for place of inviolable privacy). Wright was seen as a dreamy andsensitive child, and cases of him running away ...
